Paul woke with a sigh, smiling as he breathed in the familiar scent, enjoying the way the sun played on his face as it streamed in through the window. He rolled over, wishing to have her warm body to cuddle next to, but wasn’t surprised when greeted by a pile of rumpled bedding. It was foolish of him to wake up that way, expecting her to be with him; she hadn’t been with him in weeks. In fact, she’d been with Greg just the morning before. How could she profess her love for Paul while jumping into bed with Greg at every available opportunity? What had started out as a lovely morning descended, in the space of thirty seconds, into a pit of confused despair.

With a sigh he dragged himself out of bed and headed for the kitchen to hunt out the tea and maybe a light breakfast, but not before a bathroom break.

Paul noticed Gina’s computer and decided he could find his way through it enough to get to his email account to find the latest of Fenny’s sage advice, or at least her newest theory on the whereabouts of Elvis, then set about to reply.

 

He let out a sigh as he turned off the computer. Maybe it would be best to go fight for the woman he loved. There was no telling when Greg would get back, or if he was already on a plane. What could he say to Gina? What would he do about Greg? What if the whole thing was a ruse and Gina was going to skip off to London with Greg to live as beat poets and neither had the guts to tell him about it?

No, Gina had told Paul she loved him and that she was running away from Greg. The best thing to do was to go rescue her, surprise her, take her into his arms and make her forget about Greg. He’d work out the complications when he got there. Good way to spend his holiday, well, better than sitting around feeling sorry for himself.

It would be fun to see Fenny and Brad again anyway, assuming he could work past the image of them rolling around the kitchen licking ice cream toppings off each other; he’d already lost his ability to look at whipped cream in a sensible way. He wandered off to get dressed as he made a list of all the people he’d have to call, an explanatory email to Fenny at the top of his list.

---

Brad woke with fingers playing across his chest and soft breathing against his neck. “Mmm, morning babe,” he said softly.

“Morning,” she said with a smile as her head rested on his shoulder. “I’m glad you’re here.”

“Me too,” he agreed, taking her hand to kiss her fingers. “You think Gina’s up?”

“Gina? Oh, I forgot to tell you—how do you know?”

“She was up when I got home last night. She’s having problems with the guys again.”

“Isn’t she always?” Fenny said with what started as a giggle but turned into a yawn.

“You gonna be around today?”

“Are you?” she countered.

“We should take her out, show her a night on the town. Dinner somewhere fancy and fun. Ooh, Benihana!”

“Nope. She doesn’t like Japanese food.”

“Is there something wrong with her?” Brad gasped.

“I think there must be.” Fenny leaned up to kiss him, and he was more than happy to return the favor.

“Let’s never get out of this bed,” Brad said, wrapping his arms around her.

“But then we couldn’t eat Japanese food anymore,” she protested.

“We’ll have it delivered.” He smiled down at her and he slipped one hand under her shirt to stroke her back, his lips searching out that spot under her ear that he knew would turn her to jelly. Her pleased hum turned to a frustrated groan as the phone rang. “I’ll get it,” he announced as he leaned over her to grab the receiver. Fenny would have protested, but she didn’t want it waking Gina.

“Hello?” Brad questioned the phone. “Oh, yeah, right. Well, it’s seven thirty now…yeah, nine is ok.” Fenny slipped out from under him and started getting ready for work. “I just made plans for tonight actually, we’ve got a friend staying with us from out of town. Yeah, I’m sorry. Me too. I’ll see you in a while. Of course. Bye.”

“What was that?” Fenny asked as Brad hung up the phone. She looked at him, sprawled across the bed on his stomach, as she buttoned up her shirt.

“Oh, there’s a couple All-Star shows coming up soon, we’re gonna get together and try to figure out some scheduling.”

“Why didn’t you tell them it was Gina staying with us? I thought they’d be happy to hear from her again.”

“Hmm? Oh, that was Jeff, he doesn’t know Gina, he wasn’t there for the whole ‘How to Avoid Dying in Australia’ adventures.” Fenny nodded and he dragged himself off the bed. “I won’t be long, I’ll just give them my agenda and tell them to figure it out themselves. Tonight I’m all yours.”

“You bet you are,” she smiled as he came around behind her and wrapped her in his arms to kiss the top of her head. “I gotta get going though, gonna be late for work again, still need to resolve the mauve issue. You’ll be here when I get home?” She turned round to kiss him goodbye.

“Promise,” he said, his hand over his heart, fingers grazing over the letters of her name.

“Be nice to Gina if she ever gets up, tell her I’ll be home for lunch.”

“I love you,” he whispered into her ear.

“I love you too,” she sighed. “Now get dressed, you don’t want Gina to see you half naked.”

“You mean again?” he giggled.

“Get dressed you spaz,” she laughed and left the room.

---

“What would Fenny say?” Brad asked, gulping for air as his hands wandered over her back, the water splashing gently against her, the gentle sound of rustling leaves and the lapping of water on the shore of the watering hole all around them.

“She owes me one,” Gina grinned as she brought one of her legs up to wrap around his hip and he easily supported her weight. She dropped a few kisses on his chest and smiled up at him. “Fen fucked Greg the last time we were all in LA. We could tell her you were drunk.”

Brad leaned down and captured her in a feverish, lusty kiss as his hands continued their exploration of her unfamiliar body. “I don’t care,” he groaned and clutched her body to his.

“Bet you’ve never done it in a billabong in the middle of a stranger’s farm in Australia before, have you, Braddles?” Gina asked teasingly as he nipped at her shoulder.

“Something to write home about,” he chuckled.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and let out a gleeful giggle as he grabbed her by the hips—

Gina jolted awake with a gasping breath and a racing heart. “Jesus,” she breathed. “That was not normal.” She took a few deep breaths and tried not to think about the dream, but she still felt panicked. She swallowed. So, now not only was she an unemployed journalist with marriage problems involved in an odd sort of affair, but she was also having kinky dreams about her best friend’s fiancé. Crap.

She glanced at the clock on the dresser. It was noon. “Stupid jetlag,” she murmured and decided what she needed was a shower. Maybe a cold one.

---

---

“Hey Fen,” Gina’s raspy voice called from the hallway.

“Morning,” Fenny chimed, closing the email window. “Sleep well?”

“Not really,” Gina sighed. “Funny dreams, jetlag, you know.”

“Oh, poor dear,” Fenny cooed, then smiled to herself as she realized she’d made it through the night with no freakish dreams. “I brought lunch, sandwiches. I was expecting you to be up and awake by now. You can have breakfast instead if you’d like.”

Gina headed for the kitchen and started rummaging for a bowl and some cereal. “What’ve you been up to all morning?” she asked.

“Work. Just came home for lunch, make sure you were ok, and check my mail.”

“Anything exciting?”

“Hmm? Oh, no, not really. Porn and coupons mainly.”

“So, guess you’ll be off to work again soon, huh?”

“Yeah. Sorry I can’t stick around and entertain you like a good little host would, but I’m already behind schedule and, well, let’s face it, you did show up a bit unexpectedly.”

“I don’t mind, I’d like to spend the day watching some of your mindless American television.”

“You do that then,” Fenny smiled, “but remember, I am not in charge of anything, so you can’t blame me for stupid yank TV. I’ll be home by five probably, I don’t know when Brad’ll be back, he had a meeting with the Whose Line guys about their All-Star shows.” Fenny frowned at herself for a moment before chirping, “We were talking about maybe taking you out somewhere strange and exotic for dinner.”

“Sounds like fun,” Gina smiled as she got herself situated at the table. “You on friendly terms with him again?”

“Yeah, I think so,” she smiled.

“Good,” Gina nodded and devoted her attention to breakfast and the newspaper spread across the table as Fenny tapped away at the computer across the room. Gina wasn’t too sure she was pleased with the idea of possibly being alone in a room with Brad after that dream. Not that she would try anything, but she was afraid she’d collapse into unexplainable giggles. Then, of course, there was the conversation they’d had the night before. She hated to admit it to herself, but maybe Fenny wasn’t as paranoid as Gina liked to think she was…

---

---

Greg climbed the stairs to his little studio apartment and headed for bed. “That flight was a bitch,” he grumbled to himself as he flopped into bed. His head still throbbed from the screaming of the toddler in the back, his hips still hurt from being stationary in the cramped seats for so long, and his heart still ached from Gina’s near-rejection. Was she really going to “spend some time” with Paul? Was there no hope for Greg finding happiness?

Well, the important thing was, she was in LA, and now he was too, and he’d just have to fight for her. It was pretty simple. Wasn’t it?